


Ancestors

by WrittenByBlood



Category: Descendants (2015)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:41:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5660056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittenByBlood/pseuds/WrittenByBlood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Three Drops of Blood fell on a windowsill, a Queen made a wish for a daughter with hair as black as night, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as blood.</p>
<p>When, years later, Snow White sees the daughter of the Evil Queen, it's, not like looking in a mirror, not like seeing her mother's wish in this other girl. But close. So close. Like a resemblance, like a younger picture of herself, without her mother's wish.</p>
<p>And somehow that's worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Personally, I think this film could have been just a little darker.

When Aladdin sees the Son of Jafar, a street thief, a common boy, he feels all of sixteen again, and worthless and disgusting. Because what did he learn from his own story, when he forsook his own image?

Anita remembers her old friend. She remembers brushing it off when people mentioned Cruella's sadistic nature, telling them they were wrong. She remembers reprimanding Roger for his song about her. She remembers shutting the door on the woman's face, when even she couldn't turn a blind eye to her true nature any longer. And she remembers abandoning a young boy to this fate.

Sleeping Beauty remembers a Dragon, And Green Eyes and Green Fire. And Sleeping. And Sleeping. And Sleeping. And being awake, and still unable to dance. Unable to move. Unable to open her eyes. And sees another, younger, pair of green eyes, and how quickly she had abandoned her, safe in her own castles, with her Prince, protected only because of Merry-weather's spell. And wonders about the worth of her own crown.

When Three Drops of Blood fell on a windowsill, a Queen made a wish for a daughter with hair as black as night, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as blood.

When, years later, Snow White sees the daughter of the Evil Queen, it's, not like looking in a mirror, not like seeing her mother's wish in this other girl. But close. So close. Like a resemblance, like a younger picture of herself, without her mother's wish.

And somehow that's worse.

\-----

“We knew!” Jasmine screamed, at everyone, at no one, at herself. “We knew. Oh, god, we knew, we knew better than anyone. We knew our stories ourselves.”

She collapsed on the chair behind her, collapsing in on herself. She shook, remembering Jafar’s control of her father, of her. Remembering the Red Genie. And the terror he’d caused. She shook, thinking of that anger, on one child.

“And we left them,” Anita whispered, turning into her husband’s shoulder. “We just left them. For sixteen years.”

Cruella de Vil. She had left a child, with the woman that skinned dogs alive, and wore their fur coats. She’d seen her knives, for God’s sake. And she had left a child, a sweet little boy, to hear Snow White tell it, with this woman.

And Snow White.

The woman was normally pale, but now she looked deathly.

“My sister,” She murmured. “I left, I left my sister.”

“You didn’t know,” Belle tried, but her words were deaf even to her own ears.

They knew. They all knew.

Oh Gods. Belle thought. They all knew. They knew about Maleficent, her power, her anger, her rage. What had Beast said when Ben had told them? The worst one. And she, in all her benevolence as Queen, had left a child for Maleficent to raise.

And the Evil Queen. Oh, Evie. How had they not thought? The Evil Queen had married only once. The girl wore a Tiara everywhere, for God’s Sake! How had they been so stupid!

And Cruella, what did they think she would have done as a mother? The boy had burn marks, from what Ben could tell them.

And Ben, oh, Mal. Oh, how they had argued with him, how Aurora had complained to her of this girl hurting her daughter. This girl that was their charge to protect.

Belle looked to Lonnie, standing between her parents, that had brought her to the Palace when Lonnie had held on to her warrior mother for a full twenty minutes when they visited her crying, demanding her to tell the Royals all that she had confided in her parents.

Fa Mulan and Li Shang had asked for an audience with Snow White and her Prince, Belle and Beast, Anita and Roger Radcliffe, Jasmine and Aladdin, and Aurora and Philip. Mulan had asked for them all by name and without titles. 

The Hall had gone silent when Li Shang had asked, “What did you nobles learn from your stories?”

And then his daughter spoke.

And Snow White hadn't stopped crying.

“We can still mend this,” Aurora says, turning to Philip. “Can we not?”

“We must,” The no longer young prince answered, remembering a Dragon.

“Oh God, we must,” Snow White said, her voice echoing through sixteen years.


	2. Chapter 2

_ Even if we can’t find Heaven, I’ll Walk Through Hell with You. _

 

 

Jay stood on the roof of Hell Hall. It was Carlos’s home. And Cruella de Vil’s.

Mostly Cruella de Vil’s.

Carlos lay curled up under the blanket Evie had given him, shaking. Jay could smell the smoke from outside his window. The stench of burning skin.

Jay swallowed what he couldn’t describe, and half sat, half collapsed on the roof, just outside the window. He closed his fists, feeling his strength that was absolutely useless in this battle of theirs.

Cruella’s screeches still rung in his ears. About a worthless boy she could never love.

He sighed, dropping his head into his arms.

 

 

“I’ll do better, I promise,” Mal reasoned with the Mistress of Darkness, her voice faltering.

“Will you now.” Maleficent answered, staring down at her daughter, a wicked smile playing at her lips, stroking her beloved Raven.

Evie struggled with herself, a frown marring the Fairest’s beautiful face, trying to answer for her friend.

But the Wicked Fairy’s eyes shone a brilliant green, and Mal’s flashed, struggling to keep pace, and Evie grasped her poison apple necklace that had once held a powerful enchantment, knowing there was no Magic on this Isle of theirs, or in the lands beyond, that could help her friend.

 

 

“Can I come in?” The Son of Jafar called to the little boy with a mother that loved only to burn him.

Carlos struggled under his gifted blanket and gifted pillow. He wasn’t supposed to show weakness, he wasn’t supposed to show fear. He wasn’t supposed to show pain, he wasn’t supposed to feel it. But he didn’t know how.

He was Cruella de Vil’s son.

And oh god, did he know that.

“Why are you asking?” Carlos said, sitting up right, after he’d wiped the tears from his face.

He wasn’t supposed to cry, he could at least hide the evidence.

And then he saw Jay’s face. Oh. Son of Jafar. Prince of Thieves.

“I’m not usually invited into people’s homes,” Jay said, a smirk pulled on his face, and his eye’s deadened.

“You can take any fur coat you’d like,” Carlos says bravely. “I’ll show you the way around her traps.”

But Jay walked straight passed the closet door, and came to sit on the duvet that had ‘Evie’ embroided on it in royal blue, childish cursive stitches.

“My dad would only count it as one more thing,” And Cruella would murder Carlos. “Besides, I stopped by Gaston one, two and three earlier.” Jay smirked. “And Reza.” He tacked on, knowing it would make Carlos smile. It did “My pockets are a bit full.”

Carlos shifted over on the duvet, making more room for Jay. Cruella was evil, and maybe one day, he would, maybe not be as evil as her, but enough that she wouldn’t bother him any longer.

Jay began telling him stories, old stories, of Arabian Nights, and Agrabah, in the time before Jafar tried to take Rule. Stories he heard from the others that were banished here because of the actions of The Prince of Pajamas, Jay’s words, and Carlos found himself realizing, Cruella didn’t bother him now.

 

 

“You’re really beautiful, you know,” Mal said, her voice breaking, but she didn’t let herself cry. She was a disappointment to her mother. She knew that much. But she didn’t need to prove it.

“Like Snow White?” The Daughter of the Evil Queen asked, unsteadily.

“Better! Fairer.” Mal insisted. “Fairest.” She corrected quickly.

Evie smiled then. The little blue princess was never trying to match her mother’s beauty, she was meant to equal the one that had stolen her mother’s titles. That was the portrait the Evil Queen held up for her daughter. Another women’s child.

“And, smarter, and more unique,” Mal continued. “I mean, blood red lips and pale skin? Who thought that was a good combination, huh?” Mal challenged. “She looks like a ghost half the time!”

Evie giggled.

“And she only has black hair, boring! So many people have black hair.” Mal shook her head. “Midnight Blue,” Mal says. “Now that’s something special.”

Evie laughed, then, a sound, not like a bell, not lilting, like a princess’s. High, filled with life. Because she had pain, and hurt, and anger, and she could still laugh.

Mal smiled too, then, her heart was supposed to be filled with darkness. And it was. But not for Evie. She would reign like her mother, one day. She would cause pain, and suffering, more than Maleficent ever had. But not for these friends of hers.  
Just not them.

 

 

“Do you remember the Isle, ever?” Evie asked, paging through her spell book.

It was three months after Prince Ben’s Coronation. So they were in Aurodon for almost five months now. Besides the little incident with Maleficent, they hadn’t spoken to their parents in all of that time, they hadn’t visited home, they hadn’t even seen a picture of the Isle of the Lost.

She didn’t ask any one of them in particular, and she had her mirror open before her. She could have been asking herself.

“Sometimes,” Jay answered her first.

“Do you miss it?” She asked again.

“Never,” Carlos answered, first, surest. And because of his answer, they all kept silent about theirs. “Come on, are we playing or what?”

Carlos turned back to the game he’d been in with Jay, unpausing the scene. When Jay didn’t turn back immediately, he killed his avatar.

“It was home, you know,” Mal says eventually. “I mean, it’s not much. But still, it was home.”

She glanced to the sideboard. They were in the boys’ room. Three of the four couldn’t stand the pink room. But in her and Evie’s room, on their sideboard, would be a tank, with a little lizard in it.

The only piece of home she had left now. Well, that and her old clothes folded carefully in a bag in the back of the closet. Mal had watched Evie fold their old clothes up, and place it there. She knew Jay had done the same for his and Carlos’s clothing. They didn’t wear them anymore, they hadn’t for a long time, even before the coronation. But they still kept it. They weren’t sure why. Maybe afraid their fairy-tale didn’t have a happy ending.

“There are no dogs in Aurodon,” Carlos says eventually, softly. “They can’t cross the barrier, you know. Even if one accidentally got on the garbage boats, the boat wouldn’t be able to go through the barrier.”

Jay frowned, looking at him.

“Chad told me,” Carlos explained.

Three faces turned to him.

“What?” Carlos defended. “He’s not so bad. What?!” Carlos asked again. “Come on, compared to back home, he’s a poodle.”

Jay laughed a little then.

“Yeah,” Evie said, pulling a face, “Compared to Gaston two and three.”

“Or Reza,” Carlos cringed.

“Or Diego,” Jay shot back.

“Or me,” Mal said haughtily. “Remember when I almost sent Evie to a Thousand Year Sleep?”

“Or locked her in a closet with Cruella’s Furs and traps,” Jay snickered. He’d helped with that one.

Evie giggled. “Or forced Carlos to throw that party.”

“Hey, it was a howler!” Carlos objected.

The other three burst out laughing, and watching them, so did he.  
It had been home. It had been bad. But it had been home. Here, they weren’t sure what was home. Aurodon Prep wouldn’t welcome them forever. The Fairy God-Mother wouldn’t be able to watch them forever. Their friends wouldn’t be able to care for them forever. But for now, they did.


	3. Chapter 3

Audrey had forgiven Mal for a crime Maleficent had committed against Aurora. But other than that, nothing much had changed in Aurodon.

  
            Many people hadn’t understood what had happened in the church that day. To the people, the Villain’s Kids had come to Aurodon the first time, to change to good. Their declaration in the church, their devotion to change, and to each other, to them, it was their first time making the pledge, to the rest of Aurodon, it was just, a vary grand renewal.

  
            Which meant, other than Audrey treating Mal like a decent human being, and scolding Chad for not, nothing much in Aurodon had changed.  
  

          Jay leaned against Mal’s locker, tightening his backpack over his shoulder, his face set in a grim line.

            Mal took one look at him, and knew he was hurting.

            “It’s mother’s day next week,” Jay said. The people of Aurodon, especially the younger generation, loved their parents, and they loved showing it.

            Mothers would always hurt Jay the most. Carlos’ mother was fair near homicidal in her treatment of her son. Maleficent was more indifferent and disappointment at every turn. Evie’s mother was, not half bad, take away all the constant remarks about beauty and Evie not being it. But Jay, with his absent mother, suffered the most.

            Because, out of everything, the worst thing their mother’s could do to them, only Jay’s had done. 

            She’d thrown him away.

            They’d all excused their fathers in their own way a long time ago. Carlos had all near congratulated the man on escaping as soon as he could. But Jay’s mother, they’d never been able to think of an excuse for.

            “I say,” Mal said, pursing her lips together. “We haven’t cut a single class since we got here.” She walked until she was in Jay’s personal space. “I mean, there’s good, and then there’s just r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.”

            Jay grinned, remembering the love potion induced song Prince Ben had sung for Mal.

            “I say,” Mal walked closer to him, until she was almost pressed against him. “We do something _wicked_.” She winked.

            Mal turned from him to the balcony, and scanned the crowd for a splash of black, white and red. And almost immediately saw Carlos staring at her and Jay, his face pulled into a frown. Mal smirked, and jerked her head to the closest door, holding up a number three with her fingers sideways.

            Evie. Carlos nodded he understood, and Mal saw him quickly find the blue princess, and call her to the door with him. Evie glanced up, to see Mal and Jay heading to the door, and out. She followed Carlos, until they all met inside the castle. 

            They turned off into a corridor, just passed the unused remedial classes, where everything would be quiet, given that it only had four students that finished their class in the morning. And Jay pulled off his backpack, and Evie bent to it, unzipping it, pulling out colourful bits of leather.

 

            The four Villains ran through the gates of the school and down the road. Screaming, jumping on each other. In their old clothes, they felt a little bit more in their own skin, a little bit stronger, to deal with the pain tomorrow might bring.

 

            The quartet fell through Carlos and Jay’s room door, laughing, they collapsed on top of each other on the two beds. Jay falling on top of Carlos, and Evie and Mal dangling half off the bed on the one side.

            Their laughter died down, slowly, as they tried to regain their breathing. Then they stared at each other, in Villain’s clothing in Heroes rooms, looking just like themselves, not an inch out of place, and began laughing again.

            Today had been fun. Today had been different. They loved their lives here in Aurodon now. But they just needed, just a little break. Just sometimes, from the rigorous schedules, and classes and sports.

            “Hey Jay,” Evie called. “Wasn’t Jafar like, a Sorceror?”

            “Yeah, so?” Jay answered, crushing Carlos who didn’t seem to mind it too much, tugging on the long hair drapping across him like a curtain.

            “Shouldn’t you be able to do magic, then, too?” Mal asked, picking up Evie’s train of thought. “Like Evie and me?”

            “You want magic?” Jay asked, pushing off Carlos. “Alright, I predict,”

            “S’not magic,” Carlos objected.

            “Shut up,” Jay said, laying back across him, covering Carlos’s mouth with his hand. “I predict, we are all going to be in a lot of trouble for today.”

            “Well, duh,” Evie rolled her eyes. “You and Mal left calling cards on, I counted three, different buildings, each.”

            “I counted five,” Carlos added, peeling Jay’s fingers off him.

            “It’s called Tagging,” Mal said self-righteously. “And it was worth it.” She grinned.

            The four turned to the knock at the door.

            “Huh,” Carlos said. “I guess that was magic.”

            “That was quick,” Mal said, looking at her friends, getting up to open the door.

            Prince Ben, in all his princely blue and yellow suit, stood standing at the door.

            “Hey guys,” Ben said, a smile plastered onto his face, otherwise a look of worry. “Erm, so something happened, and it’s fallen to me, to, er,” Ben struggled. “Seeing as how I brought you here in the first place,” Ben shifted, uncomfortable. “So, I suppose, they’ve seen fit that I’m, and by they I mean my parents, of course,” He said quickly, “The King and Queen, and the Fairy Godmother, so I couldn’t very well say no, so I’ve come to tell you that-”

            “Listen, Benny Boo,” Mal said. She’d begun using the nickname just for laughs, now she struggled to drop it. “About today,”

            “They want to meet you,” Ben said suddenly, deciding that rip the bandage off was a better thing to do, than the other way he’d attempted before. Which way exactly, he himself wasn’t sure about. There was no way to say this nicely.

            “Who wants to meet us?” Carlos asked, unsure who they would need to see today after their little stint in the city, if not the King and Queen, or the Fairy Godmother.

            “The Royals,” Ben answered him, happy for a straight line of progress. “From your stories, I mean,” He stuttered, horrified. “Your parent’s stories.”

            “Huh?” Jay asked. This really couldn’t be about his and Mal’s artwork on a few walls in the city then.

            “Well, Snow White, more particularly,” Ben said, “For Evie,” he added quickly.

            “What?” The blue princess’s mouth dropped open. “Why?”

            “Well,” Ben struggled, “She wanted to tell you herself, in person. Tomorrow.”

            “So just Snow White?” Jay asked. “No problem, an apple took her down before, she’s no match for us, if she tries anything.”

            “Er, no, actually.” Ben said, looking at Jay a bit sceptically. “Aladdin and Jasmine want to see you.” He turned to Carlos, “And Anita and Roger Radcliffe came calling for you.” He turned to his girlfriend of barely half a year, and took a breath. “And Princess Aurora and Prince Philip have asked to meet you.”

            “What?!” Mal demanded.

            “I’d rather go back to Jafar’s Junk Shop, thank you,” Jay saluted him.

            “I don’t know,” Carlos stuttered. “I mean, we’re good now. But, maybe, not that good yet.”

            “Not that good ever,” Mal argued.

            “Just hear them out,” Ben pleaded. “I know, what this looks like, what this sounds like. It looks bad, really bad, and I would never ask this from you.”

            “It’s not bad, Ben,” Evie said quietly. “It’s wicked. It’s evil. You can’t, we can’t. They’re the reason, I mean, I know our parents were the evil ones, and we’ve chosen good now, but. This was their enemies, their one, true enemy. We just can’t. They’re the reason the Isle of The Lost exists at all.”

            “That’s not very fair,” Ben argued.

            “We don’t need to be fair,” Jay said coldly. “We’ve spoken to your parents nicely haven’t we? Just not these royals.”

            “We can’t, Ben,” Mal told him. “We just can’t.”

            “We lived our whole lives hearing the story from our side. And even you have to admit,” Carlos argued. “Our parents were the villains, but, I mean, Cruella aside, it took two to make a story.” Carlos looked to his friends.

            Jay nodded, agreeing with him.

            Evie just held herself, and Mal stood her boyfriend down.

            “We can’t, Ben,” She said. “That’s our answer, give it to them, we can’t.”

            “You don’t have a choice,” A soft voice came in from behind Ben. “Sorry,” Lonnie turned to the future King, “But you couldn’t fail. Not in this. It’s too important. It’s part of who we are.”

            “Lonnie,” Mal began.

            But the Chinese Warrior cut her off.

            “You didn’t have a mother,” Lonnie says. “Not a real one, and that was Maleficent’s fault. But you not having anyone, was ours. They just want to meet you, to try and,”

            “We’re no one’s charity cases,” Jay argued.

            “No,” Lonnie agreed. “You’re not. But you are someone’s responsibility. Every child is. I promise Jay, they’re good people. And not, born good, like Queen Belle, Aladdin was as good a thief as you, Jay. Well,” Lonnie relented, “Maybe not as good. And not born noble, either.” Lonnie looked to Carlos, “Roger and Anita are just normal people, with, a few more pets than normal,” Then she turned to Mal, “Even Aurora, she’s never known what it was like to live the life of a Princess, she grew up scared and alone, too.”

            The group was silent, unable to deny what Lonnie had said, not about them, but about the Heroes that, now, they couldn’t help but think might as well have been children of the Isle of the Lost too.

            Evie looked the most unsure. “I don’t want to see Snow White.”

            She remembers a mirror her mother had hung that may as well be a portrait. Or a portrait of Snow White that may as well be a mirror. She isn’t sure any longer.

            “But she’s your step-sister,” Lonnie swallowed, suddenly looking unsure. “At least just a hello?” Lonnie hesitated, then because she was sure nothing else would work, “Queen Belle, has ordered it.”

            Mal looked to her friends, but none of them had a good argument, either.

            “One visit,” Mal said to Lonnie, her voice almost breaking. “One.”

            “That’s all,” Lonnie said, relieved.

            “And we’re going dressed like this,” Evie said, defiantly. “They want to meet us, they can meet us.”


	4. Chapter 4

 

_I’ll tell the world, I’ll sing the song, it’s a better place since you came along. Since you came along._

 

Evie drew in a sharp breath, unable to believe what Jay was offering her.

            “Where?” She breathed out.

            “The Material Shop,” Jay smirked. “Where else?”

            He held out a fold of navy blue leather Evie would never have been able to buy even if she saved up for a year.

            “Thank you,” Evie whispered, forgetting Villains didn’t feel gratitude. “Oh, Jay, thank you.”

            She fair near hugged him. But she hadn’t lost her mind that much. Yet.

            “And that’s not all,” Carlos grinned. Turning her around. Facing her to a box on the one side of the Tree house, where they had holed up for the day on the Isle of the Lost. The weather was too cold, even for them, and Evie had wanted to stay inside, but Mal had dropped by, to drag her out.

            Now Evie glanced unsurely from Carlos to the box, the blue leather grasped tightly in her arms.

            Mal’s eyes glowed a brilliant emerald green. And the dark fairy managed enough magic to lift the box, and Evie’s mouth dropped in wonder and awe. First, at Mal’s use of magic, even if limited.

            Then at what was under the box.

            “A sewing machine,” She said in utter wonder.

            “The ogres found it,” Mal said. “Well, after I asked them to find it.”

            Ask meant threatened to Mal. And to Carlos. And to Jay. Evie frowned, thinking that, even for villains, their vocabulary shouldn’t change.

            “And then it was just a few simple adjustments,” Carlos shrugged. “And voila.”

            Evie looked from one to the other. And couldn’t half believe her luck. And she wasn’t sure if her disbelief was at the gifts, or the ones that had given them.

            “I,” Evie struggled.

            “Happy birthday, Princess,” Mal said.

 

            Now, here in Aurodon, looking at Snow White, who had never had a birthday with less than a thousand servants. Who had grown up with her father loving her. With her step-mother pretending to, at least. Who had never gotten anything less than presents from everyone in the Kingdom. Who had never had to sew a single garment for herself in her life. Looking at this girl that had been born, Fairest, and all Evie could think of was how much she missed her sewing machine on the Isle of the Lost.

            “Hello,” Snow White, said, standing to greet Evie. “It’s so nice to meet you,”

 

            Jay had asked questions like any five year old did. Rapidly. And a lot. But Jafar wasn’t the answering questions patiently kind of father. But so many others were eager to tell Jay stories about the place he would have been born in. They taught him the language, they taught him the customs. They told him that the Princes of Agrabah would be allowed to wear their hair long, to mark their nobility.

            But Jafar wasn’t interested in lost nobility, he was only interested in riches now.

            So Jay had watched the Material Shop for days. Carlos came with him, sometimes, to pick up things for Cruella. It was a waste of time, he knew, to watch shops. It wasn’t that there was high security on the Isle, it was that the stores were just so cramped, so clustered together, so small, that to try and steal anything from them was almost impossible. So Jay wasn’t really sure why he kept watching the most difficult store to steal from, and the clumpiest things to steal.

            A necklace from a passing girl would have been so much simpler.

            But, as so far Jay had learnt, he and his friends weren’t really simple. Mal and her need for a Staff on another Island. Carlos staying alive was an almost daily struggle. And Evie was an outright Princess.

            So Jay found himself spending at least an hour everyday standing hidden from view, watching the material shop.

            And after more than a week, he finally managed to have the keeper’s routine down, and there was a spilt second break where Jay found the shop wasn’t guarded so properly.

            He’d smirked, vanishing further into the Shadows, when he’d spotted it. More than enough time for him.

            The next day, Jay had an armful of expensive dark blue leather no one would have bought except maybe Cruella, and she was more of a fur than leather type, anyway. And when Jay was on his way home, automatically taking his spoils to Jafar, he caught himself thinking he hadn’t taken this for Jafar, and turned away from the Junk Shop to Hell Hall. He would hide it until he could work out what to do with it.

            Denying vehemently all he had thought about was a blue haired princess when he’d taken it. Why he’d even planned it at all.

 

            Jay had grown as protective of Evie as he had of Mal. So now, here, when some pampered princess has asked to meet her, he had a realistic amount of anger on the topic. And so, Jay hadn’t put much thought into Aladdin wanting to meet him, and was considerably taken aback, when the Prince of Agrabah came up to him.  
            “Sabah-al Khair, Jay,” Aladdin greeted fluently, in a language he was sure he had forgotten.

              
            “Those look like dog bites,” Jay had said once, to the cigarette burns on Carlos’s arms. And Carlos thought, if dog bites hurt the way Cruella’s cigarettes did, dogs weren’t really something to be afraid of any more than his mother. And that would have helped his fear of dogs, but Carlos was already terrified of her.

            “I got you something,” Jay said, almost just a few days later, holding out his hand to Carlos. “To match you bite marks,” The older boy grinned.

            Dog tags.

            “How’d you find this?” That was the interesting part. How Jay got it was child’s play.

            “Swiped it from your mom’s things when she made us clean her room, it was lying on the floor under some old used bits of fur,” Jay grinned. “Can’t sell it, no one will buy it. No dogs on the Isle.”

            Carlos couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face. Jay didn’t bother telling him to keep them hidden.

            “Sickly sweet,” Mal had said, dropping from a rooftop near them.

            And Carlos couldn’t correct her.

            Carlos held out a test tube like vial with a cork stopper on top. “It’s a chemical compound, I call it Thief’s Cure,” Carlos said, handing it over to Jay. “It eats through metal.”

            The smile that pulled across Jay’s face was almost blinding. “Sweet,”

            Carlos felt Jay’s happiness spread to him, and he slipped the Dog Tags over his neck.

            Mal stared at him, glancing at the Dog Tags, biting her lower lip.

            “What?” Carlos asked.

            “Nothing,” Mal dismissed him. “We heading to the Tree House or what?”

            Carlos’s Tree House had become their castle. Never mind that both the girls lived in actual castles. If they weren’t causing mayhem in the town, they were holed up in the Tree House. Almost always.

 

            Carlos had always thought they were safe in his Tree house. He had been wrong, of course, they were still on the Isle of the Lost. No part of the Isle was safe, not even the Tree House Cruella didn’t know about.

            Still. Then he’d come here, and he’d thought he was safe here. Was he wrong about that, too?

            Carlos walked into their meeting dressed like Cruella’s kid and with Dude walking next to him. And when they entered the room, the dog almost immediately dragged him to the two large Dalmatians seated, on the other side of the room. With about five puppies that Carlos was almost sure should be a _just_ a little bit bigger _by now_.

            “Hello,” Anita held out her hand to Carlos, and, never once having met his mother’s sort of friend aside, Carlos was sure he remembered her.

 

 

            Sometimes, Mal would see her shadow, and it wouldn’t be her Shadow she saw. It would be Maleficent’s. But she would blink, and it would be gone. And she wouldn’t be sure if she’d imagined it, or her mother had magicked it.

            “My mother has a magic spell book, too,” Evie had told her once, walking through the streets of the Isle. “She gave it to me a while ago though. She doesn’t read much. She doesn’t do much of anything,” She admitted. “Other than talk to her Mirror. Or pretend to be her Mirror answering her questions. Or mine I didn’t ask.”

            They would talk, sometimes, going to meet up with Jay and Carlos. Sometimes they’d just destroy things. Mostly, they would just destroy things.

            “Yeah?” Mal had prompted, “Anything fun in there?”

            Evie had grinned. “Plenty fun,” She answered. “Also plenty useless, since there’s no magic left on this stupid Isle.”

            Evie wasn’t usually this upset about Magic being missing. Jay should be this upset about Magic being missing since it meant his father couldn’t teach him what he knew. Not that Jafar was the teaching type. Mal was this mad about there being no magic left on the Isle. Even more so than about the Wi-Fi.

            Okay. Almost as mad as about the Wi-Fi. She was a fairy. A dark fairy, of course, but still a fairy. She had magic in her blood, just itching to be used. She’d never even seen her own Dragon form yet.

            In the Tree House, though, she could do small pieces of Magic. Carlos reckoned it was left over from his box making the little hole, that his Tree House could now hold small, very small, amounts of Magic. They hadn’t told Jay and Evie yet, it was going to be a surprise for Friday next.

            “Hey,” Evie said, just short of turning down the road into Hell Hall. “I’m gonna go and get those cakes Carlos likes, quick.”

            “And you didn’t get them when we passed the bakery, why?” Mal intoned.

            “I forgot,” Evie shrugged. “Go on ahead, I’ll be there soon.”

            “Yeah, I wasn’t gonna walk all the way there and then back again with you, Princess,” Mal waved her off, and then turned into Hell Hall.

            Cruella was never home. Except when she hadn’t tortured Carlos in over a fortnight. Then she came speeding home like bat out of Hell. Or back into Hell. Whichever.

            Mal was surprised to find that neither Jay nor Carlos were there yet, though. Shrugging she made her way through Cruella’s trap closet to Carlos’s bedroom (‘There has to be a safer way through,’ Mal thought for the five-hundredth time.’) and out to the Tree House.

            Huh. No one was there either.

            Sitting down, Mal made herself comfortable on the floor, and was about mess with something of Carlos’ when she spied the necklace Jay had given him. The dog tags.

            Grinning, Mal called the necklace to her, with her green eyes. Biting her lip, she thought of destroying them, but quickly dismissed it. Carlos loved these.

            Then she smiled, thinking of something else, her eyes glowing again, focused, biting her lip, as the metal carved onto itself, Mal held it for as long as she could, and the limited magic would allow her, and gave out just as she finished.

            Carlos.

            Inscribed on the one side of the dog tags, but the other side Mal was more proud of.

            Good Boy.

            She grinned, and tossed it aside, landing back where it was. Then she saw the thing they were working on for Evie, Carlos had finished it, all they had to do was wait and then give it. Mal’s eyes glowed green again, wondering, could she push her magic this far?

            Just a small, little adjustment, for the gift for Evie.

            She finished, just as she heard Carlos and Jay start to climb the Tree House, quickly covering the sewing machine, and greeting the boys with glowing eyes when they walked in. Scaring them so they fell out of the Tree House, Carlos on top of Jay, and laughed as they climbed it again, Jay tackling her down.

 

            Mal remembered the Isle of the Lost, and she remembered walking it with Evie, just talking, or causing mischief. But either way, if Mal walked with Evie, she found she couldn’t feel her mother’s Shadow following her. And Evie didn’t deserve bad things to happen to her. Mal hadn’t let it happen on the Isle, or at her mother’s old Castle. She was not going to let it happen here in Aurodon. So Mal stood right next to Evie, as Snow White walked up to her, and almost didn’t see Aurora walk towards her.

            The Sleeping Beauty hesitated, seeing another Green Eyes, and then she smiled, and Mal understood why the Princesses were called beauty incarnate sometimes.

            “Hello Maleficent,” And Mal felt betrayal and sadness and anger.

            Her mother had given her the same name as her. She had never once called her by it.

            “Just Mal,” Audrey answered, looking at her almost new friend. “Mom, she’s not Maleficent, she’s just Mal.”


End file.
